LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 



The Vision of Sir 
Launfal 

By JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 

Edited for School Use 
BY DANIEL A. LORD. S. J. 



^^GUS/y 




Loyola University Press 

CHICAGO 



LOYOLA ENQLISH CLASSICS 



The Vision of Sir Launfal 



By 
James Russell Lowell 

EDITED FOR SCHOOL USE 
WITH NOTES AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 



By Daniel A. Lord, S. J. 

ST. LOUIS university 



^OUSfy 




Loyola University Press 

CHICAGO 






COPYRIGHT. 1918 

BY 

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY 
Chicago, III. 



©CI.A50618:^ 

OCT 16 1918 



PREFACE 



In these days of national enthusiasm it is hardly necessary to 
apologize for the presentation of a notable American classic. 
The Vision of Sir Launfal fits in well with the spirit of the 
times. The splendid American ideals are there presented as 
they were understood and appreciated by a great American, and 
time has not altered those ideals. Today, as in the days of 
James Russell Lowell, America stands for the nobility of the 
individual, for democracy as opposed to haughty pride of race 
and rank, and for the lesson of Christ that the weakest, poorest 
human being is brother of us all. A moment's study will show 
that these are precisely the ideals concretely embodied in The 
Vision of Sir Launfal. 

The notes appended to the text are suggestive merely. If 
the experienced teacher finds in them cause, for just resentment, 
he is encouraged completely to disregard them. Should he find 
them of use, it will be because the editor has himself first tried 
them with some success in classes of his own before venturing 
to offer them to the pupils of other instructors. 

Tennyson's poem. Sir Galahad, has been added without com- 
ment as embodying another poet's idea of the requisites needed 
by one who in any age would successfully seek the Holy Graif. 

The Feast of Corpus Christi, 1918. 



INTRODUCTION 



JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 

James Russell Lowell, born in Cambridge, February 22, 1819, 
was the product of an age when statesmen and men of affairs 
made literature their recreation and avocation, and when men of 
letters found time to plunge into the world of statecraft and 
business. As a poet merely, James Russell Lowell would be 
famous for only a few poems and these not of first rank. As 
a many-sided man of culture who served his country with a 
zeal more intense than the zeal Avith which he served his art, 
he deserves to rank as America's most representative literary 
man. 

When the time came for him forever to lay aside the pen, 
August 12, 1891, he had completed a life rich in achievements in 
fields of labor as varied as usually fall to the lots of several 
distinct individuals. Though it is impossible to separate his 
literary activities from his work as a diplomat and agitator, we 
can study him briefly from several of the many angles of his 
complex character. 

Lowell, the Poet 

It is as a poet that the author of The Vision of Sir Launfal 
first appeals to us. Initiated by his mother, a woman of rare 
culture and poetic feeling, in the delights of English poetry, he 
gave himself so completely during his college days to its study 
and to attempts at poetical self-expression, that though he had 
been elected Class Poet by his fellow students, he was forced 
to leave Harvard without a degree. For all that, he finished the 
class poem and sent it in his stead to his class's commencement. 

In 1841 he published his first volume of poems, A Year's 
Life, though he later characterized the poems as "poor windfalls 
of unripe experience." A second volume of poems appeared in 
1844, and in these for the first time he showed something of the 
humor which reached its climax in the appearance of his famous 
Biglow Papers. 

In 1848 he published a third volume of poems besides The 
Vision of Sir Launfal and A Fable for Critics. The Vision, 



6 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

though written in forty-eight hours, is easil}^ his best-known 
poem and has won him his acknowledged place among poets of 
the English language. In the course of years further collections 
of his poems appeared, until the last volume was issued in 1895, 
four years after his death. 

Lowell's poetr}^ is really limited in quantit}^ for much of 
his work deserves only the name of verse. But in The Vision of 
Sir Launfal, The Harvard Commemoration Ode, and The First 
Snow-fall, he reaches a height seldom attained by other Amer- 
ican poets. 

His love of nature was sincere and comprehending; his com- 
parisons are brilliantly vivid and accurate ; his rhythm is 
musical ; and he touches with gentleness of feeling the chords of 
pathos and true sentiment. Above all, he was a poet who con- 
stantl}' kept before him the ideal that a poet's mission is that 
of a teacher of men. It is impossible to escape the moral in- 
fluence of his poetry^ All these qualities are best represented in 
The Vision of Sir Launfal. 

Lowell, the Literary Critic 

The appreciative side of Lowell's nature was developed by 
years of careful reading and sympathetic stud}^ As a result, 
he has enriched critical literature with some of its most intel- 
ligent works. He brought to his criticism a poet's perception of 
another poet's good qualities, a mind stored from collateral read- 
ing in many languages, and a carefully cultivated sense of 
literary values. 

Among authors, the older writers were his favorites, and his 
essays on Chaucer, Dante, Shakespeare, Spencer, Milton, Dryden, 
and others are as important and illuminating as any similar 
works produced by an American. These essays and others of a 
like critical character were collected and published in Among 
My Books and My Study Window. 

In the eyes of many, Lowell's prose ranks above his poetry. 

Lowell, the Professor 

During a series of lectures on the English Poets delivered at 
the Lowell Institute of Boston, Lowell received word that he 
had been appointed Professor of French and Spanish and Belles- 
lettres at Harvard. He was named to succeed in that chair 
another celebrated American poet, Longfellow. 

Lowell took a year to prepare himself for his new work by 
travel in Europe, after which he occupied the chair for twenty 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL / 

years. His class lectures seem to have been delivered with the 
enthusiasm and zeal born of a genuine love of his subjects. He 
was not a man to do slovenly work in any line, and he found 
pleasure in imparting to younger men some of his own admira- 
tion for the classics. For all that, he felt that the routine and 
monotony of the class room was a great drain on his time and 
his energies, and he mentions that his professorship had been 
detrimental to his higher work as a poet. 

Lowell, the Editor 

One further side of his literary career needs brief attention, 
his work as a magazine editor. In 1843, while still in the first 
flush of A^outhful enthusiasm, he entered upon the heroic but 
unappreciated task of elevating the public taste in the matter of 
periodicals. The Pioneer, he called his magazine, and he set it 
a standard far above that of its contemporaries. But the maga- 
zine expired of frost-bite after a brief career of three months. 

Throughout his life Lowell was frequently connected in 
various capacities with magazines, but it was in 1857 that he 
found an opportunity to realize his earlier ideals of a magazine 
that would publish work of real literary value. In that year the 
Atlantic Monthly was begun, and Lowell was appointed its first 
editor. It is safe to say that his high literary ideals set for the 
new journal the standard which has kept the Atlantic Monthly 
in the very first rank of periodicals. 

Lowell, the Abolitionist 

Lowell entered into active life during the heated days of the 
anti-slavery agitation. The Mexican War was the question of 
the hour, and many Northerners felt that this was but another 
move to win more states for slavery. Lowell's strong belief in 
the natural freedom and equality of men, a feeling which can 
easily be traced in The Vision of Sir Launfal, led him to enlist 
his pen in the cause of abolition. 

Both he and his first wife, Maria White, wrote for the 
Liberty Bell, an annual published in the interests of the anti- 
slaver\' advocates ; and Lowell was for several years a regular 
contributor to the Pennsylvania Freeman and the Anti-slavery 
Standard, both abolitionist papers. • 

But more powerful than all the weight of his editorials were 
the wit and irony and sarcasm which he brought to bear on 
slavery through the Biglow Papers. Hosea Biglow, the fictional 
Yankee who spoke through the verses, became one of the most' 



8 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

feared opponents of slavery in his time. His shrewd sarcasm, 
his common sense, his native New England wit and humor made 
him the most quoted character in conteniporary American 
literature. The Biglow Papers were humor that cut deep and 
burned terribly at the very roots of slavery. Lowell's contri- 
bution to anti-slavery literature ranks in influence with Uncle 
Tom's Cabin, and in literary merit is considerably in advance of 
that famous novel. 

Lowell, the Diplomat 

Lowell, ever interested in the public life of his times, had 
been active in the presidential election which brought Hayes to 
the White House. After the election he was appointed United 
States Minister to Spain. The appointment was a very gratify- 
ing one ; he had always taken a sincere interest in Spanish 
literature, and this was an opportunity to make himself thor- 
oughly conversant with the land that had given it birth. 

His services as ambassador to Spain were so satisfactory 
that in 1880 he was sent as ambassador to England. 

A more acceptable ambassador could hardly have been chosen. 
Lowell had already received recognition of his work in honorary 
degrees from Oxford and Cambridge, and England welcomed 
him as the representative not only of American diplomacy but 
of American literature as well. For four years he took an active 
part in the public life of England. He was called on at fre- 
quent intervals to address public gatherings ; he was* the jnost 
popular after-dinner speaker in London, and his literary reputa- 
tion made him welcome at the choicest gatherings of England's 
literary men. Before the completion of his residence, he had 
bound together England and the United States in closer bonds 
of friendship and mutual respect. 

Lowell, the Man 

Lowell was in private life a lo)^al husband and a devoted 
father. His first wife seems to have been as nearly suited to his 
terhperament and needs as a wife could possibly be, while his 
second wife, Frances Dunlap, is characterized as "a woman of 
remarkable gifts and grace of person and character". His 
affection for his children, three of whom died in infancy, finds 
expression in some of his most touching poetry. 

He was, in addition, an ardent patriot and a thorough Amer- 
ican. His many-sided character served to raise in European 
eyes our national reputation; but though he was lauded abroad, 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 9 

his own country was ever first in his affections. Intensely alive 
to the issues of his times, he was not less alive to the brilliancy 
of past generations which had been crystalized in the world's 
literature. He was at once a dreamer and a doer, a man of 
beautiful thoughts and of noble deeds. 

Lowell's Indebtedness to the Catholic Church 

A brilliant young American critic of poetry once stated that 
only a Catholic or one with Catholic instincts coidd reach the 
highest poetry. Certain it is that, as in the case of English 
poets like Milton and Tennyson, our American poets, Longfellow 
and Lowell, never wrote better than when their themes were 
taken from Catholic sources. 

In this greatest of his poems, Lowell is indebted to the 
Catholic Church for his inspiration. The Holy Grail legend was 
born of an age which accepted Catholic belief in its entirety. 
The whole significance of the Holy Grail arose from the fact 
that it had once held the Blood of Christ, and this was a fact 
belief in which depended entirely on the acceptance of the 
Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation. 

The wonderful faith of the Knights of the Grail, their ("ath- 
olic purity of body and mind, the beautiful ritual of consecra- 
tion by prayer and penance which preceded their quest have 
always exercised a fascination over the minds of poets. 

Even Lowell's theory that true charity is found only where 
the giver sees in the object of his charity the person of the 
needy Christ is essentially a Catholic doctrine. 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 

Note by the Author. — According to the mythology of the 
Romancers, the San Greal, or the Holy Grail, was the cup out 
of which Jesus partook of the last supper with his disciples. 
It was brought to England by Joseph of Arimathea, and 
remained there, an object of pilgrimage and adoration, for 
many years in the keeping of his lineal descendants. It was 
incumbent upon those who had charge of it to be chaste in 
thought, word, and deed ; but one of its keepers having 
broken this condition, the Holy Grail disappeared. From 
that time it was a favorite enterprise of the Knights of 
Arthur's court to go in search of it. Sir Galahad was at last 
successful in finding it, as may be read in the seventeenth 
book of the Romance of King Arthur. Tennyson has made 
Sir Galahad the subject of one of the most exquisite of 
his poems. 

The plot (if I may give that name to anything so slight) 
of the following poem is my own, and, to serve its purposes, 
I have enlarged the circle of competition in search of the 
miraculous cup in such a manner as to include, not only other 
persons than the heroes of the Round Table, but also a period 
of time subsequent to the date of King Arthur's reign. 

Prelude to Part First 

Over his keys the musing organist, 

Beginning doubtfully and far away, 
First lets his fingers wander as they list, 

And builds a bridge from Dreamland for his lay : 
Then, as the touch of his loved instrument 5 

Gives hope and fervor, nearer draws his theme, 
First guessed by faint auroral flushes sent 

Along the wavering vista of his dream. 



Not only around our infancy 

Doth heaven with all its splendors lie; 10 



12 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

Daily, with souls that cringe and plot, 
We Sinais climb and know it not. 

Over our manhood bend the skies; 

Against our fallen and traitor lives 
The great winds utter prophecies : 15 

With our faint hearts the mountain strives ; 
Its arm outstretched, the druid wood 

Waits with its benedicite; 
And to our age's drowsy blood 

Still shouts the inspiring sea. 20 

Earth gets its price for whab Earth gives us; 

The beggar is taxed for a corner to die in, 
The priest hath his fee who comes and shrives us, 

We bargain for the graves we lie in ; 
At the Devil's booth are all things sold, 25 

Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold; 

For a cap and bells our lives wt pay. 
Bubbles we buy with a whole soul's tasking: 

'Tis heaven alone that is given away, 
'Tis only God may be had for the asking ; 30 

No price is set on the lavish summer ; 
June may be had by the poorest comer. 

And what is so rare as a day in June? 

Then, if ever, come perfect days ; 
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, 35 

And over it softly her warm ear lays : 
Whether we look, or whether we listen. 
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten ; 
Every clod feels a stir of might. 

An instinct within it reaches and towers 40 

And, groping blindly above it for light, 

Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers ; 
The flush of life may well be seen ' 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 13 

Thrilling back over hills and valleys ; 
The cowslip startles in meadows green, 45 

The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice, 
And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean 

To be some happy creature's palace; 
The little bird sits at his door in the sun, 

Atilt like a blossom among the leaves, 50 

And lets his illumined being o'errun 

With the deluge of summer it receives ; 
His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings, 
And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings ; 
He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest, — 55 
In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best? 

Now^ is the high-tide of the year, 

And whatever of life hath ebbed away 
Comes flooding back wath a ripply cheer, 

Into every bare inlet and creek and bay; 60 

Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it, 
We are happy now because God wills it ; 
No matter how barren the past may have been, 
'Tis enough for us now that the leaves are green ; 
We sit in the warm shade and feel right well 65 

How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell ; 
We may shut our eyes, but we cannot help knowing 
That skies are clear and grass is growing; 
The breeze comes whispering in our ear. 
That dandelions are blossoming near, 70 

That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing. 
That the river is bluer than the sky. 
That the robin is plastering his house hard by ; 
And if the breeze kept the good news back, 
For other couriers we should not lack ; 75 

We could guess it all by yon heifer's lowing, — 
And hark ! how clear bold chanticleer, 



14 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

Warmed with the new wine of the year, 
Tells all in his lusty crowing! 

Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how ; 80 

Everything is happy now, 

Everything is upward striving; 
'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true 
As for grass to be green or skies to be blue, — 

'Tis the natural way of living: 85 

Who knows whither the clouds have fled? 

In the unscarred heaven they leave no wake ; 
And the eyes forget the tears they have shed, 

The heart forgets its sorrow and ache ; 
The soul partakes of the season's youth, 90 

And the sulphurous rifts of passion and woe 
Lie deep 'neath a silence pure and smooth, 

Like burnt-out craters healed with snow. 
What wonder if Sir Launfal now 
Remembered thekeepingof his vow? 95 

Part First 
I 

"My golden spurs now bring to me. 

And bring to me my richest mail, 
For to-morrow I go over land and sea 

In search of the Holy Grail; 
Shall never a bed for me be spread, 100 

Nor shall a pillow be under my head, 
Till I begin my vow to keep ; 
Here on the rushes will I sleep, 
And perchance there may come a vision true 
Ere day create the world anew." 105 

Slowly Sir Launfal's eyes grew dim. 

Slumber fell like a cloud on him, 
And into his soul the vision flew. 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 15 1 

II 

The crows flapped over by twos and threes, 

In the pool drowsed the cattle up to their knees, 110 

The little birds sang as if it were - 

The one day of summer in all the year, 
And the very leaves seemed to sing on the trees : . 
The castle alone in the landscape lay 
Like an outpost of winter, dull and gray. 115 

'Twas the proudest hall in the North Countree, 
And never its gates might opened be, 
Save to lord or lady of high degree ; 
Summer besieged it on every side, 
But the churlish stone her assaults defied; 120 

She could not scale the chilly wall, 
Though around it for leagues her pavilions tall 
Stretched left and right, 
Over the hills and out of sight; 

Green and broad was every tent, 125 

And out of each a murmur went 
Till the breeze fell off at night. 



Ill 



The drawbridge dropped with a surly clang. 

And through the dark arch a charger sprang, 

Bearing Sir Launfal, the maiden knight, 130 

In his gilded mail, that flamed so bright 

It seemed the dark castle had gathered all 

Those shafts the fierce sim had shot over its wall 

In his siege of three hundred summers long. 

And, binding them all in one blazing sheaf, 135 

Had cast them forth : so, young and strong, 
And lightsome as a locust-leaf. 
Sir Launfal flashed forth in his maiden mail, 
To seek in all climes for the Holy Grail. 



16 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

IV 

It was morning on hill and stream and tree, 140 

• . And morning in the young knight's heart ; 
Only the castle moodily 
Rebuffed the gifts of the sunshine free, 

And gloomed by itself apart ; 
The season brimmed all other things up 145 

Full as the rain fills the pitcher-plant's cup. 

V 

As Sir Launf al made morn through the darksome gate, 

He was 'ware of a leper, crouched by the same, 
Who begged with his hand and moaned as he sate ; 

And a loathing over Sir Launf al came ; 150 

The sunshine went out of his soul with a thrill, 

The flesh 'neath his armor 'gan shrink and crawl, 
And midway its leap his heart stood still 

Like a frozen waterfall ; 
For this man, so foul and bent of stature, 155 

Rasped harshly against his dainty nature, 
And seemed the one blot on the summer morn, — 
So he tossed him a piece of gold in scorn. 

VI 

-The leper raised not the gold from the dust: 
"Better to me the poor man's crust, 160 

Better the blessing of the poor, 
Though I turn me empty from his door ; 
That is no true alms which the hand can hold ; 
He gives nothing but worthless gold 

Who gives from a sense of duty; 165 

But he who gives but a slender mite, 
And gives to that which is out of sight, 

That thread of the all-sustaining Beauty 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 17 

Which runs through all and doth all unite, — 

The hand cannot clasp the whole of his alms, 170 

TheTieart outstretches its eager palms, 

For a god goes with it and makes it store 

To the soul that was starving in darkness before." 

Prelude to Part Second 

Down swept the chill wind from the mountain peak. 

From the snow five thousand summers old; 175 
On open wold and hill-top bleak 

It had gathered all the cold, 
And whirled it like sleet on the wanderer's cheek ; 
It carried a shiver everywhere 

From the unleafed boughs and pastures bare ; 180 
The little brook heard it and built a roof 
'Neath which -he could house him, winter-proof; 
All night by the white star's frosty gleams 
He groined his arches and matched his beams ; 
Slender and clear were his crystal spars 185 

As the lashes of light that trim the stars; 
He sculptured every summer delight 
In his halls and chambers out of sight ; 
Sometimes his tinkling waters slipt 
Down through a frost-leaved forest-crypt, 190 

Long, sparklmg aisles of steel-stemmed trees 
Bending to counterfeit a breeze; 
Sometimes the roof no fretwork knew 
But silvery mosses that downward grew ; 
Sometimes it was carved in sharp relief 195 

With quaint arabesques of ice-fern leaf ; 
Sometimes it was simply smooth and clear 
For the gladness of heaven to shine through, and here 
He had caught the nodding bulrush-tops 
And hung them thickly with diamond drops, 200 

That crystalled the beams of moon and sun. 



18 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

And made a star of every one: 

No mortal builder's most rare device 

Could match this winter-palace of ice ; 

'Twas as if every image that mirrored lay 205 

In his depths serene through the summer day, 

Each fleeting shadow of earth and sky, 

Lest the happy model should be lost, 
Had been mimicked in fairy masonry 

By the elfin builders of the frost. 210 

Within the hall are song and laughter, 

The cheeks of Christmas grow red and jolly. 

And sprouting is every corbel and rafter 

With lightsome green of ivy and holly; 

Through the deep gulf of the chimney wide 215 

Wallows the Yule-log's roaring tide ; 

The broad flame-pennons droop and flap 

And belly and tug as a flag in the wind ; 
Like a locust shrills the imprisoned sap. 

Hunted to death in its galleries blind ; . 220 

And swift little troops of silent sparks, 

Now pausing, now scattering away as in fear, 
Go threading the soot-forest's tangled darks 

Like herds of startled deer. 
But the wind without was eager and sharp, 225 

Of Sir Launfal's gray hair it makes a harp. 
And rattles and wrings 
The icy strings, 

Singing, in dreary monotone, 

A Christmas carol of its own, 230 

Whose burden still, as he might guess. 

Was — "Shelterless, shelterless, shelterless!" 

The voice of the seneschal flared like a torch 

As he shouted the wanderer away from the porch, 

And he sat in the, gateway and saw all night 235 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 19 

The great hall-fire, so cheery and bold, 
Through the window-slits of the castle old, 
Build out its piers of ruddy light 
Against the drift of the cold. 

Part Second 

I 

There was never a leaf on bush or tree, 240 

The bare boughs rattled shudderingly ; 
The river was dumb and could not speak. 

For the weaver Winter its shroud had spun, 
A single crow on the tree- top bleak 

From his shining feathers shed off the cold sun ; 245 
Again it was morning, but shrunk and cold, 
As if her veins w^ere sapless and old. 
And she rose up decrepitly 
For a last dim look at earth and sea. 

II 

Sir Launfal turned from his own hard gate, 250 

For another heir in his earldom sate; 

An old, bent man, worn out and frail, 

He came back from seeking the Holy Grail ; 

Little he recked of his earldom's loss, 

No more on his surcoat was blazoned the cross, 255 

But deep in his soul the sign he wore. 

The badge of the suffering and the poor. 

Ill 

Sir Launfal's raiment thin and spare 

Was idle mail 'gainst the barbed air. 

For it was just at the Christmas time ; 260 

So he mused, as he sat, of a sunnier clime, 

And sought for a shelter from cold and snow 



20 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

In the light and warmth of long-ago; 

He sees the snake-like caravan crawl 

O'er the edge of the desert, black and small, 265 

Then nearer and nearer, till, one by one, 

He can count the camels in the sun. 

As over the red-hot sands they pass 

To where, in its slender necklace of grass. 

The little spring laughed and leapt in the shade, 270 

And with its own self like an infant played, 

And waved its signal of palms. 

IV 

■■» 

"For Christ's sweet sake, 1 beg an alms" ; — 

The happy camels may reach the spring, 

But Sir Launfal sees only the grewsome thing, 275 

The leper, lank as the rain-blanched bone. 

That cowers beside him, a thing as lone 

And white as the ice-isles of Northern seas 

In the desolate horror of his disease. 

V 

And Sir Launfal said, — "I behold in thee 280 

An image of Him who died on the tree; 

Thou also hast had thy crown of thorns — 

Thou also hast had the world's buffets and scorns — 

And to thy life were not denied 

The wounds in the hands and feet and side : 285 

Mild Mary's Son, acknowledge me ; 

Behold, through him, I give to Thee !" 

VI 

Then the soul of the leper stood up in his eyes . 
And looked at Sir Launfal, and straightway he 
Remembered in what a haughtier guise 290 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 21 

He had flung an alms to leprosie, 
When he girt his young hfe up in gilded mail 
And set forth in search of the Holy Grail. 
The heart within him was ashes and dust ; 
He parted in twain his single crust, 295 

He broke the ice on the streamlet's brink, 
And gave the leper to eat and drink : 
'Twas a mouldy crust of coarse brown bread, 

'Twas water out of a wooden bowl, — 
Yet with fine wheaten bread was the leper fed, 300 

And 'twas red wine he drank with his thirsty soul. 

VH 

As Sir Laimfal mused with a downcast face, 

A light shone round about the place ; 

The leper no longer crouched at his side, 

But stood before him glorified, 305 

Shining and tall and fair and straight 

As the pillar that stood by the Beautiful Gate, — 

Himself the Gate whereby men can 

Enter the temple of God in Man. 

VHI 

His words were shed softer than leaves from the 
pine, 310 

And they fell on Sir Launfal as snows on the brine, 
That mingle their softness and quiet in one 
With the shaggy unrest they float 'down upon ; 
And the voice that was calmer than silence said, 
'*Lo, it is I, be not afraid! 315 

In many climes, without avail, 
Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail; 
Behold, it is here, — this cup which thou 
Didst fill at the streamlet for Me but now ; 
This crust is My body broken for thee, 320 



22 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

This water His blood that died on the tree ; 

The Holy Supper is kept, indeed, 

In whatso we share with another's need: 

Not what we give, but what we share, — 

For the gift without the giver is bare ; 325 

Who gives himself with his alms feeds three — 

Himself, his hungering neighbor, and Me." 

IX 

Sir Launfal awoke as from a swound: 

"The Grail in my castle here is found ! 

Hang my idle armor up on the wall, 330 

Let it be the spider's banquet-hall ; 

He must be fenced with stronger mail 

Who would seek and find the Holy Grail." 

X 

The castle gate stands open now. 

And the wanderer is welcome to the hall 335 

As the hangbird is to the elm-tree bough; 

No longer scowl the turrets tall, 
The Summer's long siege at last is o'er; 
When the first poor outcast went in at the door, 
She entered with him in disguise, 340 

And mastered the fortress by surprise ; 
There is no spot she loves so well on ground, 
She lingers and smiles there the whole year round ; 
The meanest serf on Sir Launfal's land 
Has hall and bower at his command ; 345 

And there's no poor man in the North Countree 
But is lord of the earldom as much as he. 



SIR GALAHAD 23 



SIR GALAHAD 



My good blade carves the casques of men, 

My tough lance thrusteth sure, 
My strength is as the strength of ten. 

Because my heart is pure. 
The shattering trumpet shrilleth high, 

The hard brands shiver on the steel, 
The splintered spear-shafts crack and fly, 

The horse and rider reel ; 
They reel, they roll in clanging lists, 

And when the tide of combat stands, 
Perfume and flowers fall in showers. 

That lightly rain from ladies' hands. 

How sweet are looks that ladies bend 

On whom their favors fall ! 
For them I battle till the end, 

To save from shame and thrall : 
But all my heart is drawn above, 

My knees are bowed in crypt and shrine ; 
I never felt the kiss of love, 

Nor maiden's hand in mine. 
More bounteous aspects on me beam. 

Me mightier transports move and thrill ; 
So keep I fair through faith and prayer 

A virgin heart in work and will. 

When down the stormy crescent goes, 

A light before me swims, , 
Between dark stems the forest glows, 

I hear a noise of hymns : 
Then by some secret shrine I ride ; 

I hear a voice, but none are there ; 



24 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

The stalls are void, the doors are wide, 

The tapers burning fair. 
Fair gleams the snowy altar-cloth, 

The silver vessels sparkle clean, 
The shrill bell rings, the censer swings, 

And solemn chants resound between. 

Sometimes on lonely mountain-meres 

I find a magic bark; 
I leap on board : no helmsman steers : 

I float till all is dark. 
A gentle sound, an awful light ! 

Three angels bear the Holy Grail : 
With folded feet, in stoles of white. 

On sleeping wings they sail. 
Ah, blessed vision ! blood of God ! 

My spirit beats her mortal bars. 
As down dark tides the glory slides. 

And starlike mingles with the stars. • 

When on my goodly charger borne 

Through dreaming t6wns I go. 
The cock crows ere the Christmas morn, 

The streets are dumb with snow. 
The tempest crackles on the leads. 

And ringing, springs from brand and mail ; 
But o'er the dark a glory spreads. 

And gilds the driving hail. 
I leave the plain, I climb the height ; 

No branchy thicket shelter yields ; 
But blessed forms in whistling storms 

Fly o'er waste fjens and windy fields. 

A maiden knight — to me is given 

Such hope, I know not fear ; 
I yearn to breathe the airs of heaven 



SIR GALAHAD 25 

\That often meet me here. 
I muse on joy that will not cease, 

Pure spaces clothed in living beams, 
Pure lilies of eternal peace, 

Whose odors haunt my dreams ; 
And stricken by an angel's hand. 

This mortal armor that I wear. 
This weight and size, this heart and eyes, 

Are touched, are turned to finest air. 

The clouds are broken in the sky. 

And through the mountain-walls 
A rolling organ-harmony 

Swells up, and shakes and falls. 
Then move the trees, the copses nod, 

Wings flutter, voices hover clear : 
"O just and faithful knight of God ! 

Ride on ! the prize is near." 
So pass I hostel, hall, and grange ; ^ 

By bridge and ford, by park and pale, 
All-armed I ride, whate'er betide 

Until I find the Holy Grail. 



26 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

TO THE DANDELION 

Dear common flower, that grow'st beside the way, 
Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold, 

First pledge of blithesome May, 
Which children pluck, and, full of pride uphold, 

High-hearted buccaneers, o'er joyed that they 
An Eldorado in the grass have found. 

Which not the rich earth's ample round 
May match in wealth— thou art more dear to me 
Than all the prouder summer-blooms may be. 

Gold such as thine ne'er drew the Spanish prow 
Through the primeval hush of Indian seas, 

Nor wrinkled the lean brow 
Of age, to rob the lover's heart of ease; 

'Tis the Spring's largess, which she scatters now 
To rich and poor alike, with lavish hand. 

Though most hearts never understand 
To take it at God's value, but pass by 
The offered w^ealth with unrewarded eye. 

Thou art mxy tropics and mine Italy ; 
To look at thee unlocks a warmer clime ; ' 

The eyes thou givest me 
Are in the heart, and heed not space or time : 

Not in mid June the golden-cuirassed bee 
Feels a more summer-like warm ravishment 

In the white lily's breezy tent. 
His fragrant Sybaris, than I, when first 
From the dark green thy yellow circles burst. 

Then think I of deep shadows on the grass. 
Of meadows where in sun the cattle graze. 

Where, as the breezes pass. 
The gleaming rushes lean a thousand ways. 
Of leaves that slumber in a cloudy mass. 



THE FIRST SNOW-FALL 27 

Or whiten in the wind, of waters bkie 

That from the distance sparkle through 
Some woodland gap, and of a sky above, 
Where one white cloud like a stray lamb doth move. 

My childhood's earliest thoughts are linked with 
thee; 
The sight of thee calls back the robin's song, 

Who, from the dark old tree 
Beside the door, sang clearly all day long. 

And I, secure in childish piety, 
Listened as if I. heard an angel sing 

With news from heaven, which he could bring- 
Fresh every day to my untainted ears 
When birds and flowers and I were happy peers. 

How like a prodigal doth nature seem. 
When thou, for all thy gold, so common art ! 

Thou teachest me to deem 
More sacredly of every human heart 

Since each reflects in joy its scanty gleam 
Of heaven, and could some wondrous secret show, 

Did we but pay the love we owe, 
And with a child's undoubting wisdom look 
On all these living pages of God's book. 



THE FIRST SNOW-FALL 

The snow had begun in the gloaming, 

And busily all the night 
Had been heaping field and highway 

With a silence deep and white. 

Every pine and fir and hemlock 
Wore ermine too dear for an earl. 

And the poorest twig on the elm-tree 
Was ridged inch deep with pearl. 



28 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

From sheds new-roofed with Carrara 
Came Chanticleer's muffled crow, 

The stiff rails softened to swan's-down, 
And still fluttered dcTvvn the snow. 

I stood and watched by the window 
The noiseless work of the sky, 

And the sudden flurries of snow-birds. 
Like brown leaves whirling by. 

I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn 
Where a little headstone stood ; 

How the flakes were folding it gently, 
As did robins the babes in the wood. 

Up spoke our own little Mabel, 

Saying, "Father, who makes it snow?" 

And I told of the good All-father 
Who cares for us here below. 

Again I looked at the snow-fall, 
And thought of the leaden sky 

That arched o'er our first great sorrow. 
When that mound was heaped so high. 

I remembered the gradual patience 
That fell from that cloud like snow, 

Flake by flake, healing and hiding 
The scar that renewed our woe. 

And again to the child I whispered, 
"The snow that husheth all. 

Darling, the merciful Father 
Alone can make it fall !" 

Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her ; 

And she, kissing back, could not know 
That my kiss was given to her sister, 

Folded close under deepening snow. 



AN INCIDENT IN A RAILROAD CAR 29 

AN INCIDENT IN A RAILROAD CAR 

He spoke of Burns : men rude and rough 
Pressed round to hear the praise of one 

Whose heart was made of manly, simple, stuff, 
As homespun as their own. 

And, when he read, they forward leaned, 

Drinking, with eager hearts and ears. 
His brook-like songs whom glory never weaned 

From humble smiles and tears. 

Slowly there grew a tender awe, 

Sunlike, o'er faces brown and hard, 
As if in him who read they felt and saw 

Some presence of the bard. 

It was a sight for sin and wrong 

And slavish tyranny to see, 
A sight to make om* faith more pure and strong 

In high humanity. 

I thought, these men will carry hence 

Promptings their former life above, 
And something of a finer reverence 

For beauty, truth, and love. 

God scatters love on every side, 

Freely among his children all, 
And always hearts are lying open wide, 

Wherein some grains may fall. 

There is no wind but soweth seeds 

Of a more true and open life, 
Which burst unlooked for, into high-souled deeds, 

With wayside beauty rife. 

We find within these souls of ours 
Some wild germs of a higher birth. 



30 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

Which in the poet's tropic heart bear flowers 
Whose fragrance fills the earth. 

Within the hearts of all men lie 

These promises of wider bliss, 
Which blossom into hopes that cannot die, 

In sunny hours like this. 

All that hath been majestical 

In life or death, since time began, 
Is native in the simple heart of all. 

The angel heart of man. 

And thus, among the untaught poor. 
Great deeds and feelings find a home. 

That cast in shadow all the golden lore 
Of classic Greece and Rome. 

O, mighty brother-soul of man. 
Where'er thou art, in low or high. 

Thy skyey "arches with exulting span 
O'er-roof infinity ! 

x\ll thoughts that mould the age begin 
Deep down within the primitive soul, 

And from the many slowly upward win 
To one who grasps the whole. 

In his wide brain the feeling deep 
That struggled on the many's tongue 

Swells to a tide of thought, whose surges leap 
O'er the weak thrones of wrong. 

All thought begins in feeling, — wide 

In the great mass its base is hid. 
And, narrowing up to thought, stands glorified, 
^ A moveless pyramid. 



AN INCIDENT IN A RAILROAD CAR 31 

Nor is he far astray, who deems 

That every hope, which rises and grows broad 
In the world's heart, by ordered impulse streams 

From the great heart of God. 

God wills, man hopes ; in common souls 

Hope is but vague and undefined, 
Till from the poet's tongue the message rolls 

A blessing to his kind. 

Never did Poesy appear 

So full of heaven to me, as when 
I saw how it would pierce through pride and fear, 

To the lives of coarsest men. 

It may be glorious to write 

Thoughts that shall glad the two or three 
High souls, like those far stars that come in sight 

Once in a century ; — 

But better far it is to speak 

One simple word, which now and then 

Shall waken their free nature in the weak 
And friendless sons of men ; 

To write some earnest verse or line 

Which, seeking not the praise of art, 
Shall make a clearer faith and manhood shine 

In the untutored heart. 

He who doth this, in verse or prose. 

May be forgotten in his day, 
But surely shall be crowned at last with those 

Who live and speak for aye. 



32 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

THE FOUNTAIN 

Into the sunshine, 
Full of the light, 

Leaping and flashing 
From morn till night ; 

Into the moonlight, 
Whiter than snow. 

Waving so flower-like 
When the winds blow ; 

Into the starlight 
Rushing in spray, 

Happy at midnight, 
Happy by day ; 

Ever in motion. 

Blithesome and cheery. 

Still climbing heavenward, 
Never aweary; 

Glad of all weathers. 
Still seeming best, 

Upward or downward, 
Motion thy rest; 

Full of a nature 
Nothing can tame. 

Changed every moment. 
Ever the same; 

Ceaseless aspiring. 
Ceaseless content. 

Darkness or sunshine 
Thy element ; 

Glorious fountain. 
Let my heart be 

Fresh, changeful, constant. 
Upward, like thee ! 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 33 



SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 

Assignment I 
Read Part First and Part Second for the story merely. 

Assignment II 
The Holy Grail 

'The Sangreal (Holy Grail) was the cup from which our 
Savior drank at his last supper. He was supposed to have given 
it to Joseph of Arimathea, who carried it to Europe together 
with the spear with which the soldier pierced the Savior's side. 
From generation to generation, one of the descendants of 
Joseph of Arimathea had been devoted to the guardianship of 
these precious relics ; but on the sole condition of leading a 
life of purity in thought, word, and deed. For a long time the 
Sangreal was visible to all pilgrims, and its presence conferred 
blessings upon the land in which it was preserved. But at length 
one of those holy men to whom its guardianship had descended 
so far forgot the obligation of his sacred office as to look with 
unhallowed eye upon a young female pilgrim whose robe was 
accidentally loosened as she knelt before him. The sacred lance 
instantly punished his frailty, spontaneously falling upon him, 
and inflicting a deep wound. The marvelous wound could by 
no means be healed, and the guardian of the Sangreal was ever 
after called 'Le Roi Pecheur,' — The Sinner King. The Sangreal 
withdrew its visible presence from the crowd who came to wor- 
ship, and an iron age succeeded to the happiness which its 
presence had diffused among the tribes of Britain." — Bulfinch, 
The Age of Chivalry, Chap. XIX. 

"Then the king and all the estates went home unto Camelot, 
and so went to even-song to the great minster; and so after that 
they went to supper, and every knight sat in their place as they 
were beforehand. Then anon they heard cracking and ci:ying 
of thunder, and they thought the place should all to-rive 
[hurst]; in the midst of the blast entered a sunbeam more clear 
by seven times than ever they saw day, and all they were 
alighted of the grace of the Holy Ghost. Then began every 
knight to behold other, and either saw other by their seeming 



34 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

fairer than ever they saw afore, [and] there was no knight that 
might speak one word a great while, and so they looked every 
man on other, as they had been dumb. Then there entered into 
the hall the Holy Grail covered with white samite [a rich silk 
fabric], but there was none might see it, nor who bare it. And 
there was all the hall full filled with good odors, and every 
knight had such meats and drinks as he best loved in this world ; 
and when the Holy Grail had been borne through the hall, then 
the holy vessel departed suddenly, that they wist not where it 
became. Then had they all breath to speak. And then the king 
yielded thankings unto God of His good grace that He had 
sent them. 

" 'Now,' said Sir Gawaine, 'we have been served this day of 
what meats and drink we thought on, but one thing beguiled us, 
we might not see the Holy Grail, it was so preciously covered; 
wherefore I will make here avow [I will make a vow] that to- 
morn, without longer abiding, I shall labor in quest of the 
Sancgreal, that I shall hold me out a twelve-month and a day, 
or more if need be, and never shall I return again unto the 
court, till I have seen it more openly than it hath been seen 
here : and if I may not speed, I shall return again as he that 
may not be against the will of our Lord Jesu Christ.' 

"When they of the Table Round hear Sir Gawaine say so, 
they arose up the most part, and made such avows as Sir 
Gawaine had made." 

— Sidney Lanier, The Boy's King Arthur, Book V, Chap. IIL 

In this connection for a better understanding of the Holy 
Grail, the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest for the 
Grail, the following may be read : 

Bulfinch, The Age of Chivalry. Book I, Chapter XIX-XXL 

Sidney Lanier, The Boy's King Arthur: Book V, Sir Galahad 
and Sir Percival. 

W. S. W. Anson, Epics and Romances of the Middle Ages: 
Legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail : Titurel, Percival. 

Text Study: 
Read the entire poem carefully with attention to difficult 
words and passages, to references, allusions, and the' like. 

Assignment HI 

1-8. The introduction is a comparison between an organist 
and the poet himself. The perfect form of organ playing is 
called improvisation, in which the organist allows the feelings 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 35 

and emotions of the moment to express themselves in unpre- 
meditated, original melody and harmony. To do this, the 
organist will first allow his fingers to play a tentative prelude, 
indefinite and without any special character of its own, which 
will lead him gradually into his main theme. Around this theme 
he finally weaves his improvised music. 

In the same way the poet pictures himself as slipping first 
into a prelude which, like a bridge, leads his emotions and 
thoughts into the main theme, the quest of Sir Launfal for the 
Holy Grail. Note that the preludes really lead up to the theme 
in each case, for they suggest the character of these themes and 
flow naturally into them. Why is this true? 

1) At what time of life does Sir Launfal start out on 
his quest and with what spirit and what disposition does he 
go? What time of year is depicted in the Prelude to Fart 
First? Do you see a natural connection between the time 
of year and the time of life? 

2) At what time of life does he return, and what are his 
feelings then? Is this hinted at by the time of year described 
in the Prelude to Part Second? Is there a natural con- 
nection in this? 

7. Auroral. This is an adjective from Aurora, goddess of 
the dawn. What is the special fitness of the epithet? 

8. Vista. A prospect seen as, for example, between two 
long rows of trees and leading off into the distance. Why are 
dreams referred to as a vista? Is there some characteristic of 
dreams to warrant the adjective, wavering f 

9-32. The poet, like the organist, is now getting gradually 
into his main theme, the melody on which he intends to build 
up his poem. He discovers it first in line 12, 

9. Not only around our infancy. Wordsworth in his Ode 
on Intimations of Immortality had said, "Heaven lies about us 
in our infancy." Lowell contends that heaven is with us daily 
throughout our lives. He proves his contention in the succeed- 
ing lines, 

IL We Sinais climb and know it not. If Sinai was the 
mountain on which Moses saw God, show how this line may 
be taken as a proof of line 9, and how it may also be taken 
as the theme for the whole poem. 

13-20. Further proof of line 9. Lowell asserts that all nature 
speaks to us of God and heaven, but we are slow and unwilling 
to listen. What particular characteristics of GoH are repre- 



36 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

sented by the bending skies, the great winds, the mountain, the 
sea? 

17. Druid. Who were the Druids? Where did they perform 
their sacrifices? Is there a particular fitness in referring to the 
wood the adjective, Druid f Why? 

18. Benedicite. The first word in a Latin blessing. It is 
here used as a synonym for blessing. 

21-32. Earth is used here in contrast to heaven or God. 
God's gifts are free; He gives Heaven for a penitent prayer. 
Earth, on the contrary, gives us nothing for which it does not 
exact a dear price. Does this seem to accord with a religious 
view of life? 

23. Shrives. To absolve from sin. Lowell seems to believe 
the old fable that priests are paid for the absolution given in 
confession. The Catholic who for years has been going to 
confession is genuinely astonished to learn that some non- 
Catholics believe a fee is demanded in confession. The educated 
person today knows this fee is the purest myth. 

25. At the Devil's booth. So, too, the Devil demands his 
price for everything he gives us, and the price is often the human 
soul. The idea of the Devil conducting a booth suggests the 
introduction to Thackeray's Vanity Fair. 

27. Cap and bells. By what t3^pe of persons were these 
worn? Hence, what are they the sign of? 

28. Jaques in As You Like It refers to the soldier as "seek- 
ing the bubble reputation even in the cannon's mouth." Why 
are bubbles a good metaphor for worthless things which fas- 
cinate and attract? 

32-56. One of the most famous nature descriptions in 
English literature. It will repay careful study and thorough 
visualizing. 

35. Then Heaven tries the earth. The warm spring skies are 
seerhingl}^ closer to the earth than at other seasons, and bending 
gently over it, suggests this figure. What is meant by the earth's 
"being in tune" ? To what is the earth compared ? 

39. Every clod feels a stir of might. A poetical expression 
for a very common natural event of the springtime. The con- 
trast between the lifeless clod and the flower is the contrast 
between life and lack of life; hence the reference to soul, which 
is, of course, the life principle. 

43. The flush of life. The budding life of springtime takes 
on a thousand colors, all of which are referred to as life's 
flush. 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 37 

47. And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean. A casual 
observation in the fields or parks will confirm this. Shake any 
wild flower and observe the tiny insects that live in it. Note 
how beautifully the poet has expressed this simple idea. 

49. The little bird. The male bird, which is more frequently 
the songster, is meant, as is shown from lines 53-56. His song 
is represented as the overflow of summer poured into his being. 

56. Nice. Discriminating, precise. Thus, "A nice balance", 
"A nice judgment". 

57-93. The poet is now concerned with the effect of summer 
on the hearts of men. 

57. The high-tide. High-tide is the tide at its fullest. Spring 
is the year at its fullest. 

59. Ripply. An adjective from ripple. 

75. Courier. A messenger. 

78. Warmed zvith the new wine of the year. A striking 
figure : as wine causes the heart to expand and glow, so the 
spirit of spring warms the heart of the chanticleer to a burst 
of joyous crowing. 

87. Wake. What is meant by the wake of a ship? Shov\- 
the aptness of Lowell's use of the word in reference to the 
clouds and the sky. 

93. Like Uirnt- out craters healed with snoiv. Almost any 
set of pictures of Japan will give instances of these volcanoes 
covered with snow. To understand the figure, recall: 1) What 
is meant by a rift; 2) Why passion especially makes a rift in 
the soul, though grief too leaves its wound; 3) Why the bub- 
bling, restless, hot fires of passion may be compared to the 
scorching, seething lava of a volcano; 4) That as snow rests 
softly on the rifts caused by the eruption of the volcano, so the 
quiet and beauty of spring calms the soul that has been torn by 
passion and grief. 

Assignment IV 
Part First: 

96. Golden spurs. These were the sign of Knighthood. They 
could be won only by a successful fight. 

97. Mail. Mail was armor made not of plates or sheets of 
metal but of rings, scales, or chains. It was much more pliable 
and yielding to the movements of the body. 

103. Rushes. These were the ancient carpet and were flung 
plentifully over the stone floors. What is Sir Launfal's inten- 
tion ? 



38 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

105. Ere day create the world anew. A beautiful expression 
for dawn. 

Indicate the lines at which the Vision properly begins. Does 
Sir Launfal ever make a journey in search of the Holy Grail? 
Give the reason for j-^our answer. 

114-127. This magnificent description of the castle, proud, 
isolated, welcoming merely the powerful, gives the key to the 
character of its owner. Sir Launfal. Show how this is true. 

119. To understand this more clearly, it must be remembered 
that mediaeval castles were of thick, heavy stone, and that the 
windows were the merest slits. Hence the sun and the warm 
spring air could with difficulty, if at all, permeate the chilly, 
stone-paved rooms within the castle itself. Is besieged a good 
word in this connection? Give your reason. 

120. Churlish. A churl was a rough, ill-mannered, sullen 
person. What is the force of the adjective as used here? 

122. Pavilions. This is the mediaeval word for tents. What 
is here meant by summer's tents? Why does the murmur cease 
with nightfall? 

128. Drawbridge. Any picture of a mediaeval castle will 
show the dra\ybridge. What was its purpose? 

129. Charger. Whence this name for a horse? 

130. Maiden-knight. Sir Launfal was unmarried and was 
pure of soul. His quest, consequently, did not fail for the rea- 
son Sir Launcelot's failed but for a distinctly different reason. 
This reason is Lowell's addition to the legends of the Holy 
Grail. 

132-135. These lines refer to lines 119-127. Shafts are 
arrows. What are the arrows of the sun? In mythology we 
find Apollo, the Sun-god, depicted as an archer. Why? What 
is a sheaf of arrows? 

137. Maiden-mail. Mail that had never been used in battle 
or quest. 

144. Gloomed. What is the force of this unusual verb? 

147-158. In a few brief touches the character of Sir Launfal 
is graphically depicted for us. Reproduce your impressions in 
your own words. How did his treatment of the leper differ from 
that of Christ? 

149. Sate. An old form for sat. This word together with 
obsolete forms Countree, line 116, and leprosie, line 291, are 
used to give an antique flavor to the poem. 

151. The sunshine went out of his soul. All the beauty of 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 39 

nature is lost sight of in the disgust occasioned at sight of the 
leper. 

152. 'Gan shrink and cratvl. Began to shrink and crawl. 

156. Rasped. If the meaning of rasp is understood, the 
force of this verb will at once be clear. 

158. So he tossed him a piece of gold in scorn. What effect 
is this action going to have on Sir Launfal's quest? Why? 

159-174. Thoughtlessly Sir Launfal rides on in his quest 
while the leper enunciates the lesson of the poem. 

162. That is no true alms which the hand can hold. What 
precisely is it that the hand cannot hold and that makes all the 
difference between true charity and its sham? 

Charity, according to Lowell, consists not in what we give, 
but in the way we give it. Moreover, we spoil our charity by 
giving through a mere sense of duty; we must give out of the 
love and sympathy of our hearts. 

166. Slender mite. Whose mite is commended in the Gos- 
pel and by whom? 

168. That thread of the all-sustaining Beauty. The human 
soul is the image of God in man and is found consequently in 
every human being. Hence, this image of God funning through 
the whole human race may be compared to some beautiful 
thread binding all men together in a common resemblance. The 
truly charitable man gives because he sees in every man the 
image of Christ, our Lord. 

171. The heart outstretches its eager palms. What is 
literally meant by this vivid figure? 

172. For a god goes with it. Mercy and charity are the 
special characteristics of God Himself. In The Merchant of 
Venice, Portia, speaking of mercy, says to Shylock: 

It is an attribute of God himself; 

And earthly power doth then show likest God's 

When mercy seasons justice. 

Assignment V 

Prelude to Part Second : 
174-210. Winter is described as the setting for Part Second. 

174. Note the emphasis of this line. How is it attained? 

175. Snow five thousand summers old. Where, even in 
temperate climates, do we find snow which for continued cen- 
turies has not melted even in summer? Why does Lowell count 
the age in summers rather than winters? 



40 ' LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

176. Wold. A gently sloping piece of wooded ground. 

181-210. A beautiful description of the brook in winter; to 
be studied carefully. 

184. Groin. To join as in the case of arches, domes. Arches. 
Why is this term especially suited to ice formed over a brook? 

186. Lashes of light. Observation alone will confirm the 
author's choice in this simile. 

187. Summer delight. To understand this, one has only to 
study the images traced by frost on a window pane. 

190. Crypt. An underground passage, usually arched and 
most frequently found under a church. Is the idea of a crypt 
in this connection a good one? Why, considering lines 186-187, 
do you think he says forest crypt? 

192. Bending. If the trees are carved in an arch or crypt, 
their resemblance to trees caught in a breeze is obvious. 

194. Silvery mosses. What kind of frost may thus be de- 
scribed? 

196. Arabesques. Particularly applicable to the figures in 
ice. Why ? 

201. - Crystalled. What is the effect of a crystal on light? 
Has water or ice the same effect? 

205-210. Recall that a brook reflects in summer the trees 
and flowers that grow along its banks and the clouds that float 
over it ; then read again lines 186-187, and the passage will be 
perfectly clear. 

211-224. The castle has forgotten its former owner who is 
returning to it through the wintry night. 

213. Corbel. A bracket projecting from the side of the wall, 
most frequently found in buildings of the style of the Middle 
Ages. 

216. Wallows. A very accurate descriptive word. Yule-log. 
A familiar term in Christmas literature. In this connection, 
Henry Van Dyke's The First Christmas Tree may be read. 

217. Pennon. Why is the word pennon better than flag 
when referred to a flame? 

218. Belly. A verb meaning to swell out like a sail in the 
breeze. 

2f9. Like a locust. The peculiar noise of a locust can be 
heard during the summer months and compared with the noise 
of a snapping log. 

220. Blind galleries. Galleries without an exit. 

223. Darks. The dark places in the chimney. Is the com- 
parison to a forest good? • . 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 41 

225. Sir Launfal is reintroduced into a surrounding which 
suits perfectly his changed conditions, 
231. Burden. The refrain of a song. 

233. Seneschal. A mediaeval official much like the modern 
butler. 

234. The wanderer. Sir Launfal. 

238. Builds out its piers. A pier is a plain, detached mass 
of masonr}^ usually high in relation to its width. Mediaeval 
windows, as was noted above, were very narrow and tall ; hence 
the light coming through them would take their shape. Sup- 
posing then the light to fall on a snowdrift, would you fancy it 
suggesting a pier? 

Assignment VI 

Part Second: 

240-249. Sir Launfal has spent the night in the cold open 
air, and it is now morning. 

242-3. Poets are fond of comparing winter to (Teath, and ice 
and snow to a shroud. What is the force of this comparison? 

254. Recked. An old word meaning to care for, to account. 

255. Surcoat. Take a careful look at the picture of a Cru- 
sader, and you will note the loose cloth garment worn over his 
armor. Upon this was usually a large red cross, the em.blem 
of those who fought for Christ. 

256. The sign he wore, The badge of the suffering and the 
poor. "Take up your cross daily and follow me" were the words 
in which Christ commanded the cheerful acceptance of suffering, 
poverty, sorrow. With this in view, the line becomes clear. In 
the same connection may be read Thomas A'Kempis, Book II, 
Chap. 12. 

259. Idle. Useless, futile, ineffective. Barbed. What pur- 
pose is served by the barb of an arrow? Is it well applied to 
air that is sharp and biting? 

261-272. This is a definite clue to the kind of country through 
which Sir Launfal had carried his quest. To what land would 
he be especially likely to travel in search of the Holy Grail? 
Does 3^our answer suggest a country similar to that described by 
the poet? 

269. Slender necklace of grass. This is a poetical description 
of a familiar kind of spot in the desert. What is it? 

270. The little spring. Is the comparison of a bubbling 
spring with an infant a good one? 



42 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

273. Without warning, the leper reappears. Once more he 
intrudes on Sir Launfal's thoughts ; but in the first case, they 
were 3'outhf ul hopes ; now they are aged memories. 

278. White as the ice isles. What has whiteness to do with 
leprosy? For a good description of leprosy, read Ben Hur, 
Book VI, Chapters 2 and 5. 

281. The tree. On Good Friday the Church sings of the 
Cross of Christ: 

Crux Fidelis, inter omnes 
Arbor una nobilis. 
Nulla silva talem profert 
Fronde, flore, germine. 

O, faithful Cross, O, noblest tree; 

In all' our woods there's none like thee. 

No earthly groves, no shady bowers 

Produce such leaves, such fruits, such flowers. 

282-285. In what physical and what social sense are these 
lines true of the leper? 

286. Compare this giving with the gift of the gold in line 
158. What has Sir Launfal learned in his quest? How does 
this accord with Lowell's idea of charity given in lines 159-172? 

294. Ashes and dust. These are the signs and symbols of 
penance and death. Why are they used in reference to Sir 
Launfal's heart? 

300-301. Do you think a real transformation took place, or 
was it the spirit of the gift that made the crust and water seem 
other than what they really were? Why? 

303-309. Christ makes literally true His promise that whatso 
we give to the least of His brethren we give to Him, by proving 
that He and the leper are really the identical person. 

307. The Beautiful Gate. See Acts of the Apostles, HI, 2. 

308. Himself the Gate. Christ compared himself with the 
Door of the Sheepfold. Door and gate may be taken as syn- 
onyms. In what true sense is Christ the Gate? 

310. Leaves from the pine. Wherein lies the particular 
truth of this comparison? 

311. Brine. Salt water. W^hat is clearly intended by these 
lines? 

313. Shaggy unrest. The rough, restless motion of the 
waves suggest the use of these words. 

315. "Lo, it is I, he not afraid!" Under what circumstances 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 43 

did Christ speak these words while on earth? See St. John, 
VI, 20. 

316. Without avail. It is true that Sir Launfal had not 
found the Grail; but had his search been without result? Had 
he really wasted his life? 

318. Behold, it is here. More precious than the Holy Grail 
is the cup of cold water given in the name of Christ. 

320-324. The Last Supper was Christ's wonderful act of love 
and charity toward mankind — the giving of Himself for their 
food and drink. Man becomes like Christ when through charity 
' he gives of his substance to those in need.» But it must be re- 
membered that Lowell, as a Protestant, did not understand the 
full significance of the Last Supper, at which, through the in- 
stitution of the Blessed Sacrament, Christ gave to His Church 
the unique privilege of renewing that wonderful act of love 
daily on her altars. 

326-327. Read carefully St. Matthew, XXV, 34-40, especially 
the last verse. 

At what line precisely does the Vision end? 

328. Swound. An old form for swoon. 
3 "i 1 5^ Hanghird. The oriole is meant. What is there in the 
character of its nest to suggest the name here used? 

337-343. The long siege indicated in lines 114-127 comes to 
a beautiful end. 

Assignment VII 
Structure 

PLAN 

Introduction to the entire poem : 1-32 ; 

a) The Poet and the Organist, 1-8; 

b) The theme is found ; 9-32. 
I. First division : 

1. Prelude to Part First, Spring: 32-95; 

a) Spring in nature, 32-56; 

b) Spring in the human heart; 56-95; 

2. Part First, The Quest begins; 96-173. 
TI. Second division : 

1. Prelude to Part Second, Winter; 173-239; 

2. Part Second, The Quest is Ended ; 240-347. 

Thought Structure 
The Vision of Sir Launfal is one of the most beautifully 
balanced and contrasted poems in our literature. There is bal- 



44 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

ance and contrast between the main parts and between minor 
details. Thus : 

Prelude I is balanced with Part I ; 

Prelude II is balanced with Part II. 

Prelude I is contrasted with Prelude II ; 

Part I is contrasted with Part II. 
Explain just how this is true, studying carefully the balance 
of thought and structure. 

Then in detail study the contrasts between : 

The general setting of Prelude I and Prelude II ; 

The foliage, trees, flowers, colors in each ; 

The brook as it appears in both; 

The birds in Prelude I and the bird in Part II. 

The setting of Part I and of Part II ; 

Sir Launfal's appearance in each part; 

Sir Launfal's frame of mind in each ; 

The castle in Part I and the same in Prelude II and in Part 

II; 

Sir Launfal and the Leper in Part I. 

Assignment VIII 

Narrative Study 
For narrative study, take Part First and Part Second, omit- 
ting both Preludes. The text should be used in connection with 
the rhetoric followed in class. 

1) Define Narration. Show that the poem answers to this 
definition. 

2) What are the qualities of a good introduction? Show 
that The Vision fulfills these conditions regarding setting of 
time and place, introduction of chief character or characters. 
What purpose is served in a narrative by introducing the story 
with conversation? 

3) Practically every good narrative has some element of con- 
flict. What kind of conflict is found in the poem? 

4) A good narrative has rapidity of movement and rise of 
interest. Are these found in The Vision? Explain. 

5) The climax is the highest point of interest. Where is 
this in the poem? Are there any minor climaxes? Where? 

6) A good narrative is filled with action words, that is, verbs 
and nouns which embody concrete, vivid motion. Make a care- 
ful list of these words in the poem. 

7) A good sentence structure is required for a narrative — 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 45 

emphasis, unit}^ coherence. Give an example of each taken from . 
the poem. 

8) Rewrite the narrative portion of The Vision of Sir Laun- 
fal in prose, adhering to the author's method of introduction, 
minor cHmax, and main climax. Use as many of his action 
words as possible. 

Assignment IX 

Descriptive Study 
This poem is filled with beautiful and telling descriptions, all 
of which will repay careful, accurate study. 

1) What is description? Give instances of Lowell's descrip- 
tive power. 

2) A fundamental image may be either expressed or implied. 
Give instances of both from the poem. 

3) Study the essential details selected, and show how they 
distinguish the particular object from other objects of its class. 
Show how, bj-^ selection of proper details, Lowell differentiates 
a landscape in summer from the same landscape in winter ; a tree 
in winter and one in summer; a brook, a bird, etc. 

4) Show that the minor details which he selects add vivid- 
ness, concreteness, definiteness to the descriptions. 

5) Make a careful list of his picture words, that is, his ad- 
jectives and nouns which represent color, size, shape, sound, and 
other sensible qualities. 

6) One of the most powerful aids to good description is the 
use of figures of speech. The poem is rich in these figures. 

Assignment X 

Figures of Speech: 

1) Why are figures of speech used? Show how these uses 
are met by the figures of the poem. 

2) Define a simile. Study carefully the similes in Hues 50, 
93, 154, 233, 276. Make a careful list of all the similes in the 
poem. 

3) Define a metaphor. Study the metaphors in lines 12. 25, 
58. Make a list of the metaphors used in the poem. 

4) Define personification. Study the examples of personifica- 
tion in lines 46, 132, 171, 243, 270, 340. Study carefully the 
elaborate personifications of lines 119-127, and of lines 171-210. 
Make a list of all the examples of personification in the poem. 



46 LOYOLA ENGLISH CLASSICS 

5) Define metonymy. Study the examples of metonymy in 
lines 27, 88, 175, 292. Make a list of the examples of metonymy 
found in the poem. 

Assignment XI 

The Vision of Sir Launfal is supposed to occur in the north 
of England. But Lowell, as an American, preferred to use in 
his descriptions the beauties *of American scener>^ with which he 
was familiar. Go through his descriptions and note the Amer- 
ican birds, insects, flowers, grain, which he uses in place of the 
skylark, daffodils, and the other natural objects familiar in 
English poets. 

Further Suggested Assignments 

Assignment XII. The moral lessons of the poem. 

Assignment XIII. The verse structure: Meter, rhyme, 
scheme, etc. 

Assignment XIV. Tone quality, alliteration, and assonance. 

Assignment XV. Lowell's use of the Scriptures. 

Assignment XVI. Historical data connected with the Mid- 
dle Ages : Castles, manners, customs, clothing, battles, treatment 
of lepers, etc. 

Assignment XVII. The life and works of Lowell. 



THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL 47 

SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITION 

SUGGESTED BY THE POEM 

Narration 

1) Sir Launfal in Palestine escapes death from thirst through 
the charity of a leper. 

2) Sir Launfal's relatives celebrate Christmas while he waits 
without the hall. 

3) Sir Launfal learns of the whereabouts of the Holy Grail 
but arrives after Sir Galahad has found it. 

4) Sir Launfal engages in a tourney to save a maiden con- 
demned to death, 

5) The Young Sir Launfal. (A humorous sketch of a boy 
who decides to imitate Sir Launfal's quest of the Holy Grail.) 

6) A selfish, proud man in modern times is changed into a 
charitable man by reading Sir Launfal. 

Description 

1) The oasis in the desert at which Sir Launfal stopped. 

2) Sir Launfal turns as he leaves home for a last look at 
his castle. 

3) The castle after Sir Launfal awakes from the Vision as 
a scene of hospitality and good cheer. 

4) A comparison in descriptive form between Sir Launfal 
and the Leper. 

5) The seneschal at the hall gate. 

6) The castle of the Holy Grail. 

Exposition 

1) Mediaeval clothing, customs, halls as studied from the 
poem. 

2) The Holy Grail and the Knights of the Round Table. 

3) "That is no true alms which the hand can hold." 

4) "Who gives himself with his alms feeds three." 

5) "He sings to the wide world and she to her nest; 

In the nice ear of nature which song is the best?" 

6) It is the charitable man who does most for the world. 



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